Women’s bank in Meghalaya

Shillong, March 25: The Bharatiya Mahila Bank Ltd, the first government-owned women’s bank in India, got its 21st branch today in matrilineal Meghalaya.

Columnist Patricia Mukhim inaugurated the Shillong branch of the bank in the presence of Usha Ananthasubramanian, chairman and managing director of the bank, at BSNL-New CSC of CTO Building here.

Ananthasubramanian sa-id the bank has been designed to cater to the needs of women by offering a range of banking and financial services.

“The access to finance and banking not only helps empower women but also broadens the social base of development, thus fostering equitable growth. It will cater to every segment of women from self-help groups to lower middle class women to high net worth individuals with the basket of various products to ensure inclusive and sustainable growth,” she said.

At the same time, she said the bank would work to empower women to contribute to the growth processes of the mainstream economy.

Apart from providing financial services, the bank will conduct programmes on financial literacy and skill development for women of all segments so that they can in turn generate more income, more jobs and growth opportunities.

Mukhim said the women-centric bank would impact the lives of ordinary women by empowering them financially.